Dodgy doctors are suspected of illegally pocketing fees from private patients while operating in public hospitals. A report by Ernst & Young has also revealed the Crime and Misconduct Commission has begun probing the issue. Source: Supplied

PREMIER Campbell Newman has today admitted to being "very concerned'' about potential health funding rorts in the public system and promised further investigation of the issue.

He was commenting after a Courier-Mail report revealed dodgy doctors are suspected of illegally pocketing fees from private patients while operating in public hospitals.

"What we have in front of us is a report that indicates that there may be cases of doctors and specialists not doing the right thing," he said.

"It is early days and I have been talking to the Health Minister about this issue since it was drawn to my attention and we are determined to get to the bottom of it."

Mr Newman said there were many hard working health employees in the system and he hoped only an isolated few were operating inappropriately.

However, he said the report indicated the issue of doctors not declaring private patient income may be "systemic".

This morning, The Courier-Mail reported that doctors were suspected of illegally pocketing private patient fees while working in public hospitals, a rort that could be taking millions of dollars from public health system.

The potentially massive rort has been exposed in a consultant's report recently prepared for the Newman Government.

Obtained by The Courier-Mail, the report by Ernst &Young has revealed the Crime and Misconduct Commission has begun probing the issue.

Senior medical officers can treat private patients using the public hospitals system through either a salary top-up arrangement or by paying a percentage of fees collected to the hospital where the operation is performed.

However, millions of dollars in fees that should be flowing into the ailing Queensland health system may be instead lining the pockets of doctors who fail to declare private patient income.

Because of fears much-needed specialists could quit the public system altogether, hospital administrators are suspected of turning a blind eye to the fee-pocketing practise, as well as doctors not turning up to work at all.

However, Australian Medical Association Queensland president Alex Markwell insisted the practice would be limited, if it was happening at all.

"I would find that surprising but it is impossible for me to comment on every single doctor," she said.

Dr Markwell said hospitals were under Budget pressure and it was unlikely managers were going to ignore potentially lucrative revenue streams.

"They would be looking at every single revenue raising option that exists and this is a significant one," she said.

"If there are discrepancies I would imagine they would be resolved very quickly because it is an important revenue source."

However, the report by consultants Ernst & Young, dated September 28, warned similar declaration issues surrounding public hospital specialists treating private patients had been experienced in other states.

"We have found that the ability to monitor the whereabouts and the specific activities performed by senior medical officers is not an easy task and requires the interrogation of a number of different systems," it said.

The consultants recommended stripping doctors of the responsibility for billing private patients and contributing fees.

They suggested establishing a company that would pay the specialists for their private work and distribute the fees to hospitals.

"All private patient income is to be paid directly to the public health organisation which will provide the medical specialists with free access to the staff, facilities and equipment to support the treatment of private patients," the report said.

"An additional salary is negotiated with the medical specialists to compensate for the loss of private income."

The report also found problems with Visiting Medical Officers, private sector specialists who work part-time in the public system, including a lack of supporting documentation to validate their invoices.

It recommended further investigation and giving both private and public sector specialists the opportunity to voluntarily disclose and repay money they had inappropriately pocketed.

"It is recommended that Queensland Health obtain legal advice should this option be considered," Ernst & Young said.

News.com.au's Privacy Policy includes important information about our collection, use and disclosure of your personal information (including to provide you with targeted content and advertising based on your online activities). It explains that if you do not provide us with information we have requested from you, we may not be able to provide you with the goods and services you require. It also explains how you can access or seek correction of your personal information, how you can complain about a breach of the Australian Privacy Principles and how we will deal with a complaint of that nature.

A NOTE ABOUT RELEVANT ADVERTISING: We collect information about the content (including ads) you use across this site and use it to make both advertising and content more relevant to you on our network and other sites.